France and Belgium

Since ‘La Marchale’ (eldest daughter of William and Catherine Booth) conducted the Army’s first meeting in Paris on Sunday 13 March 1881, Salvationist influence has grown and remarkable social and spiritual results have been achieved. French officers commenced work in Algeria in 1934 and this work was maintained until 1970.

In Belgium, Salvation Army operations were pioneered on 5 May 1889 by Adjutant and Mrs Charles Rankin and Captains Velleema and Hass. Legal recognition was granted by Act 1007 on 8 December 1930. Most of The Salvation Army's work in Belgium operates within the French-speaking part of the country so, from 1 January 2009, the former Belgium Command was linked administratively to France under the newly created France and Belgium Territory.

The Structure of The Salvation Army in France

The French Salvation Army Congregation

The Salvation Army, an Evangelistic movement, became a Congregation in 1994. This came about because of the professionalism of the Army's social establishments and the constraints of the French laws concerning the separation of Church and State, which made a restructuring of the movement obligatory, with a separation of the spiritual and the temporal.

The French Salvation Army Foundation

Created in 2000 as the social arm of the French Salvation Army, the Foundation works in three directions : "To help, to accompany, to rebuild"